On October 25, the Senate Environment
and Public Works Subcommittee on
Transportation Safety, Infrastructure
Security, and Water Quality held a
hearing on the effectiveness of federal
drunk driving programs. Senators
attending were Committee Chair
Boxer (D-CA), Klobuchar (D-MN),
Subcommittee Chair Lautenberg (D-NJ)
and Subcommittee Ranking Minority
Member Vitter (R-LA).

In his opening statement,
Lautenberg strongly defended current
drunk driving laws and indicated he
would fight to retain and strengthen
them, particularly the 21 drinking age
law. He lamented that more states don't
have tougher laws for repeat drunk
drivers and some states allow citizens to
refuse to take a blood-alcohol test after
a fatal crash. Lautenberg stated "when
it comes to better laws, sanctions on
states work." He cited the success
Congress had in getting every state to
enact .08 as an example.

Ranking Minority Member
Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) was not
able to attend the hearing, but he
did release a statement. Inhofe
noted that when he chaired
the Committee, safety was a
priority, particularly in the
development of SAFETEA.
He highlighted the core
safety program that was
implemented in the
last reauthorization
and that he hoped
hearings would
be scheduled to review how well that program is
functioning.

Senator Inhofe noted that while he
supports efforts to reduce drunk driving,
he has and will continue to oppose federal
mandates or sanctions. According to
Inhofe, "The closer government is to the
people, the better the results." Senator
Inhofe noted that TEA-21 directed states
to implement a one-year hard suspension
for repeat offenders, using the threat of
reduced highway funds if they failed to
comply. According to the Senator, the
"one size fits all federal prescription had
the effect of derailing efforts to develop
interlock technologies, and handicapped
states' ability to put in place their own
effective drunk driving laws."

U.S. DOT Inspector General Calvin
L. Scovel also testified. He said NHTSA
and the states need a greater sense of
urgency in dealing with drunk driving.
While NHTSA is not able to mandate
performance measures, Scovel said it
can and should provide leadership and
work with states to modify performance
measures. He remarked that states do
want to set reasonable performance
measures but said the performance
measures need to be more consistent.
He twice said NHTSA needs to work
with state partners better and urged
NHTSA to work closely with GHSA on
this issue. NHTSA had indicated it will
take three years to implement better
performance measures, but Scovel said
his office thinks that timeframe needs
to be moved up.

Also testifying was the Honorable
Michael R. Fields, Presiding Judge
from the Harris County, Texas
Criminal Court of Law #14. Judge
Fields discussed the key role the
judiciary plays in the effort to reduce
drunk driving. He reported that
drunk driving cases are among the
most complicated in terms of legal
and evidentiary issues and said hard
core drunk driving cases are often
especially challenging.

Judge Fields emphasized that
there is not just one solution to
dealing with drunk drivers. He said
that judges require greater flexibility
in sentencing options. He cited
examples with hardcore offenders,
saying that research has shown that
alternative sentencing methods,
tailored to each offender, can have
a profound effect on an offender's
ability to avoid re-offending. By
contrast, drunk driving sentences
that do not take past criminal
history and habits into consideration
may actually contribute to
recidivism.

Senator Boxer was very vocal
and demonstrated this is an issue
about which she cares deeply. She
said it was clear some states are
doing better than others. While
California has generally strong laws,
she wants the state to pass interlock
legislation for all offenders and
will contact the Governor on this
matter. She urged NHTSA and NTSB
to hold a summit on the drunk
driving problem. She wants it to be
broad and very visible and hopes
the President and First Lady will
attend.

Senator Boxer asked what
the Senate could do to encourage
progress in reauthorization. MADD
Chief Executive Officer Chuck
Hurley responded that Congress
should do three things:

Provide incentive grants to
states to enact interlock
legislation for all offenders.

Work with GHSA to increase
funding for 402 and for enforcement
programs.

Provide funding to help develop
technological solutions to the
drunk driving problem.

Throughout the hearing, there
was great interest in interlocks.
Senator Vitter was particularly clear
that these were a practical and
necessary solution.

GHSA submitted a statement
for the Subcommittee, suggesting
potential solutions such as: a comprehensive
plan that touches on all
aspects of impaired driving (strong
laws, enforcement, adjudication
and technology); technical corrections
for the 164 and 154 programs;
and opposition to any effort to
weaken the underage drinking law.
GHSA also discouraged the use of
new sanctions and suggested using
incentives to strengthen the penalties
for test refusal and require more
BAC testing for dead and surviving
drivers.